1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to data transmission.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to transmit a streamed data signal across a communication link using separate cables to carry the data and the associated sample clocks.
It is also known to transmit data from a plurality of input data streams across a communication link in packetised form. Many large-scale communication systems require support for different data formats having respective different associated clock signals. It is desirable to be able to provide high-quality clock transfer across the communication link. Given bandwidth restrictions, this becomes increasingly difficult as the diversity of data formats that must be supported increases.
In the case of streamed audio data, for example, there are a variety of known multi-channel audio interconnection technologies available on the market which use standard cabling infra structures. Most of these known systems are based on networking technologies with distributed routing. According to a previously proposed technique, a data communication system is provided, that uses the physical layer of Fast Ethernet (100 Mbits/s) to provide a point to point connection for digital audio data. However, there is an increasing demand on the capacity of such systems and a requirement to handle an increasing diversity of different audio data formats having respective associated clock signals.